Roller-skate.



M. FINKLESTEIN.

ROLLER SKATE. APPLICATION FILED NOV-22,1913.

1,154,800. Patented Sept. 21,1915.

INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYLs.

MAX FINKLESTEIN, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

ROLLER-SKATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 21, 1915.

Application filed November 22, 1913. Serial No. 802,401.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I MAX FINKLEs'rEiN a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, re-

My invention relates to roller skates, and

resides in certain peculiar yielding supports or bearings for therollers, and in certain details of construction, all as hereinafter setforth.

The primary object of my invention is to produce a strong, durable, andcomparatively inexpensive roller skate, which has yielding or resilientsupports or bearings for the axles upon which the rollers are mounted,whereby the foot of the wearer of such skate is cushioned and protectedfrom shock and jar, and at the same time the act of skating is madeeasier and becomes more pleasurable.

A further object is to provide means in such a skate for readilyintroducing the springs employed therein, and preventing such springsfrom becoming displaced after all of the parts have been properlyassembled.

Other objects will appear in the-course of the following description.

I attain the objects and secure the ac vantages of my invention by themeans illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aside elevation of a roller skate which embodies a practical form of theinvention; Fig. 2, a rear end elevation of said skate; Fig. 3, a frontend elevation of the same; Fig. 1, a detail showing one of the hangersand the-bearing and guide block therein, as such block appears beforethe introduction of the spring into such hanger and the insertion of theaxle in such block, the latter being partially broken away or in partialsection, and, Fig. 5, an end elevation of one of the bearing and guideblocks.

This invention is applicable to skates having, two rollers, threerollers, or four rollers.

As herein shown it is applied to a skate hav-v ing three rollers, thatis, two rollers behind and one in front.

It will be observed that the hangers for the roller axles, as shown inthe drawings,

are arranged obliquely to the rest of the frame orto the heel and footplates, those behind extending downwardly and rearwardly, and those infront extending downwardly and forwardly, but it is'to be noted in thisconnection that the angles thus formed between said hangers and saidheel and foot plates may vary to any extent desired, even though theperpendicular should be nearly or quite approached.

The skate illustrated is of the extension, heel-strap and toe-clamptype, but it is to be understood that my invention is not restricted toany particular general type of skate, since it is applicable topractically any and all. types.

The skate which appears in the drawings,

comprises a heel-plate 1 provided with heel flanges 22 for straps 3-8, atoe-plate t provided with a. bridge 5 for a toe-clamp screw 6, andequipped with a pair of toeclamps 7, front andback lock bars 8, frontand back trusses 9 and 10, respectively, a pair of rear hangers 11 and apair of front hangers 11, a rear axle 12 and a front axle 13, a pair ofrear rollers 14: and a front roller 1 1, a channel-iron clamp 15, and aclamping bolt 16 and nut 17. The front and rear hangers 11 are similarto each other except in the direction of their obliquity. The two rearhangers 11 are riveted to the heellate 1, and the truss 9 extendsforwardly from one of such hangers. The two front hangers 11 are rivetedto the toe-plate 4, and the truss 10 extends rearwardly from the fronthanger which is on the opposite side of the skate to that where islocated the rear hanger from which extends the truss 9.

The toeplate 1 and the heel-plate 4 have overlapping, slotted, instepparts through which the bolt 16 passes, and adjacent terminals of thetrusses 9 and 10 overlap without touching and are received in the clamp15 which ts such truss terminals from below. The bolt 16, after passingthrough the slotted portions of the toe-plate 1 and the heel-plate 4,extends downward between adjacent terminal parts of the trusses 9 and10, and through the bottom of the clamp 15, to receive beneath saidclamp and the nut 17 It is by means ofthe parts and'members justdescribed that the longitudinal adjustment of the skate is effected, andthe sliding members secured after adjustment.

The skate thus briefly described is old and well known, and I make noclaim thereto.

I will now take up in detail the new features.

There is in each hanger 11 alongitudinal slot 18 having at its baselateral extensions 1919. Hanging down from the top of each slot 18 intothe same is a tongue or lug 20. filidingly mounted in each slot 18 is ablock 21 in the lower portion of whichis an open ing 22 for either theaxle 12 or axle 13. Each block 21 is provided on top with a lug 23, andthe ends of the intermediate portions of said block as a whole areslotted to form grooves 242el in which are received the longitudinaledges of the slot 18 in which the block is located. The grooves 241exceed in width the thickness ofthe portions of the hangers 11 which arereceived in such grooves, so as to provide for some lost motionlaterally between each hanger and the block therein. Spiral springs 25are inserted in the slots 18 between the tops of said slots and theblocks 21, such springs being held against lateral displacement by thelugs 20 and 23, and the lost motion just referred to is provided toenable a certain amount of rocking motion on the part of the skate totake place without tilting the rollers 14:. The springs 25 take theweight of the skate and its load, as will presently be more fullyexplained, and since the bases of said springs bear on the blocks 21 andthe latterare normally in the slots 18 above the recesses 24, it isplainly to be seen that the hangers 11,

, which bear on said springs, can be tilted laterally, to the extentpermitted by the grooves 24:, without affecting said blocks throughwhich the axles 12 and 13 pass. The maximum breadth of each block 21 isapproximately equal to the distance between the extreme ends of eachpair of recesses 19, and the lower portion of such block, which isnarrower than the part above and has therein the axle opening 22, has alongitudinal slot 26 therein which opens through the bottom thereof.

In assembling, each block 21 is introduced into the recess 19 below theslot 18 in which said block is to operate, the bottom part of theslotted and recessed portion of the hanger 11, in which said recessesand slot are located, being received in the block slot 26. Thus, saidblock is located at the extreme bottom part of the open portion of thehanger and sufficient space is left between the top of the slot 18 insaid hanger and the top of said block for the introduction of one of thesprings lVithout some provision of this kind it would be very diflicultto compress the spring sufliciently to get it into its slot and aroundthe lugs 20 and 23. The springs 25 are all introduced into their slots,while the blocks 21 are in their extreme low positions, and then the'axles 12 and 13 are inserted in place, said axle 12 being passedthrough the two rear blocks while the latter are raised sufficiently,against the resiliency of the two springs above, to enable said axle toclear the rear hangers 11 while being passed through the openings 22 insaid blocks, and similarly the front blocks are forced upwardly and theaxle 13 is inserted therein. Upon the release of the parts the axles 12and 13 are forced down by the springs 25, acting through the medium ofthe blocks 21, onto the bottom edges of the open portions of the hangers11, and there they are normally retained, such edges still being in thelowermost portions of the slots 26, but said blocks being now raisedinto the slots 18 with the longitudinal edges of such slots in thegrooves 241.

l A spacer sleeve 27 is placed on the axle 12 between the two rearblocks 21, and the two rear rollers H are mounted loosely on said axlewhere they are held against axial movement by means of two collars 28 onsaid axle between adjacent sides of said blocks and the hubs of saidrollers, and two nuts 29 screwed on to the ends of said axle outside ofsaid rollers. 7

Unlike the rear rollers lat which are mounted outside of the rear blocks21, the single front roller let is loosely mounted on the axle 13between the front blocks 21. There are collars 28 on the front axlebetween adjacent sides of the front blocks and the hub of the frontroller, also a pair of nuts 29 on said axle outside of said blocks.

The rollers are capable of rotating freely on their axles, which latterhave no motion of themselves.

As already observed, the load which the rollersl l and the axles 12 and13 carry is supported on said axles and the blocks 21 by the springs 25,consequently as the load varies in the act of skating said springs arecompressed and expand thereunder, the hangers 11 sliding in the grooves2l,iwith the result that all shock and jar are absorbed by said springs,instead of being transmitted to the foot to which the skate is attached,the movements are facilitated and rendered more pleasurable as well ascomfortable, and the aforesaid act is enhanced generally. When thesprings 25 are compressed in the act of skating or under the weight ofthe person standing upon the skate, the bottom edges of the openportions of the hangers 11 pass below or move away from the axles. Therocking motion incident to the greater compresslon of the springs on oneside of the skate than on the other has already been mentioned, and ithas been explained how such motion can occur without tilting therollers.

Changes in the shape, size, and construction of the skate in general,other than those hereinbefore pointed out, and of the new features, maybe made without departing from the nature of my invention.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. The combination, in a roller skate, with the frame of such skate,such frame consisting in part of slotted hangers, of blocks slidinglymounted in said hangers, axles mounted in said blocks, the latter beingcut out to permit said axles to bear on the closed bottoms of the hangerslots, resilient members arranged to force said axles normally againstsaid closed bottoms, and rollers mounted on said axles.

2. The combination, in a roller skate, with the frame of such skate,such frame consisting in part of slotted hangers, of blocks slidinglymounted in said hangers, axles mounted in'said blocks, the latter beingcut away to permit said axles to bear on the closed bottoms of thehanger slots, resilient members in said slots above said blocks andadapted to force the latter downwardly and normally to cause said axlesto bear on said closed bottoms, and rollers mounted on said axles.

3. In a roller skate, a hanger apertured to form an underneath bearingfor an axle, a block for the axle, such block being arranged in slidingrelation to saidhanger, and cut out at the bottom to clear said bear- 1gand permit the axle in the block to bear thereon, a resilient memberbearing on said hanger and on said block, and an axle receivable in saidblock and bearing and normally retained by said resilient member, actingthrough said block, in said bearing.

4. The combination, in a roller skate, with the frame of such skate,such frame consisting in part of slotted hangers, of blocks arranged toslide in the slots in said hangers, such blocks being grooved to receivethe longitudinal edges of said slots, resilient members interposed insaid slots between the tops thereof and said blocks, axles mounted insaid blocks, and rollers mounted on said axles, the arrangement of partsbeing such that the bottoms of said slots ride away from said axles whensaid resilient members are compressed.

5. The combination, in a roller skate, with the frame of such skate,such frame consist ing in part of slotted hangers, of grooved blocksarranged to slide in the slots in said hangers, the longitudinal edgesof said slots being received in the grooves in said blocks, and each ofsaid grooves being wider than the thickness of each of said edges,resilient members interposed in said slots between the tops thereof andsaid blocks, axles mounted in said blocks, and rollers mounted on saidaxles.

G. In a roller skate, a hanger having a longitudinal slot therein withlateral recesses at the base thereof, and a bearing and guide blockreceivable in the recessed portion of said hanger and slotted to receivethat part of said hanger which is below the open portion thereof, saidblock also being grooved to receive the longitudinal edges of said slot,and per orated to receive an axle.

7. The combination, in a roller skate, with the frame of such skate,such frame consisting in part of hangers, of a block arranged in slidingrelation to each of said hangers, a resilient member interposed betweeneach of said hangers and its block, axles mounted in the blocks, rollersmounted on said axles, and means to provide lost motion laterallybetween each of said hangers and each block, whereby said frame may berocked laterally without tilting said rollers.

8. The combination, in a roller skate, with the frame ofsuch skate, suchframe consist ing in part of slotted hangers having lugs in the upperparts of the slots therein, of blocks arranged to slide in said slotsand having lugs, resilient members interposed in said slots between thetops thereof and said blocks, said lugs entering said springs atopposite ends, axles mounted in said blocks, and rollers mounted on saidaxles.

MAX FINKLESTEIN. l/Vitnesses:

F. A. CUTTER, A. C. FAIRBANKS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing'the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

